ARLINGTON, Texas — Sure, the Texas Rangers still sit a full five games ahead of the Houston Astros in the American League West at the end of the four-game series against the Detroit Tigers. But, as has become a common refrain throughout the month of June, Texas could be ahead by so much more.
Two games that were essentially theirs for the taking were lost amidst continued struggles with hitting with runners in scoring position and runners left on base. While they split the series, and two of the games saw sparks of offense that had been missing for weeks, the other two games were missed opportunities as Texas could be going into the weekend series against their closest rival with a much more comfortable lead.
You can’t win ‘em all, of course, but eventually the Rangers could be kicking themselves for letting go of some of the ones that they lost despite favorable odds.
- Game 78: Detroit 7, Texas 2 (W: Englert, 3-2, L: Heaney, 5-5)
- Game 79: Detroit 3, Texas 8 (W: Sborz 4-2, L: White, 1-2)
- Game 80: Detroit 2, Texas 10 (W: Dunning, 7-1, L: Wentz, 1-9)
- Game 81: Detroit 8, Texas 5 (W: Englert, 4-2, L: Barlow, 1-1)
Almost a Dunning deal
Starting with the positive, the Rangers can likely say that the Dane Dunning that they saw for an entire month of May, the one who stepped up when their ace Jacob deGrom went down, whose calm demeanor and reliability helped get Texas to where it is now, is back. For the third straight game, Dane Dunning registered a quality start. But this wasn’t just an ordinary quality start.
In a swift couple of hours and at exactly 100 pitches, Dunning mowed down the Tigers in the third game of the quartet. Using a lot of movement with all four of his pitches and partnering with Jonah Heim on game-calling strategy, the bespectacled righty allowed just four hits – two of them in the 9th inning.
The game started with a leadoff single and the next hit didn’t come until the 6th inning. In between, Dunning registered 10 strikeouts while the Texas offense gave him more than enough run support. In total, Dunning put up those 10 Ks to go along with zero walks, with his only runs surrendered coming in the 9th inning on a floater of a two-run homer by Kerry Carpenter on Dunning’s 100th pitch. Had Andy Ibañez not beat out a slow chopper to third, Dunning would have fired the first “Maddux” for the Rangers since 2015.
As it was, Dunning pitched comfortably enough, backed by three home runs and a fairly complete attack by the offense to pick up a win in arguably his best outing as a professional.
Call it a comeback
The Rangers’ Josh Sborz, who has been essentially the team’s most effective reliever for weeks now, was just shy of perfect on Tuesday night. After Martin Perez, who had a nice six-inning, two-run outing, exited the game with Texas leading 3-2, Sborz retired the side in order in the 7th and then almost got through the 8th before Spencer Torkelson fired a laser beam of a home run that just cleared the left-field fence to tie the game.
Only two batters into the bottom of the eighth, however, Ezequiel Duran shot a similar laser to a similar spot, but there was no doubt whether the ball would clear, as it landed in the second deck.
The Rangers, who lead baseball in hitting with two outs with a .270/.349/.459 slash line, poured it on for four more runs in the frame to put the game to bed and even a series that they were hoping to parlay into a series victory in the finale after Dunning’s gem on Wednesday.
On wings made of wax
The unfortunate matter is that the Rangers, who still lead the big leagues by far in hitting with runners in scoring position, have been struggling mightily in that area for the whole month of June. They’ve dropped by nearly 100 points in average with RISP and 40 points in on-base percentage and slugging. On its own, that’s fairly average regression, but when the offense leads the majors in four and five-run innings and double digit runs per game, the struggles get amplified when those evaporate.
In the losses in this series, the Rangers mustered just two runs in the opener and three runs through most of the finale until a 9th inning rally bumped it up to five runs after the Tigers had claimed a big lead.
In the opener, starter Andrew Heaney didn’t do the team many favors by allowing six runs in 5 ⅔ innings, but the offense was an astonishing 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position. The Rangers also struck out an incredible 16 times on Monday. That’s a season high, with only a couple of 14-strikeout games behind it.
What’s possibly more embarrassing for Texas, is that both of those games in which they failed to put away a Tigers club sitting ten games below .500 were essentially bullpen games for Detroit, as the third place AL Central team already limped into Arlington with several injuries in their pitching arsenal.
In the first inning of Monday’s opener, Tigers’ starter Matthew Boyd came out of the game with what was later described as left elbow discomfort. It turned out the next day that Boyd would need Tommy John after partially spraining his UCL. The pitcher that replaced Boyd, Will Vest, also came out in the one inning he pitched, removed because of right knee discomfort.
The night before against Minnesota, Detroit used six relievers. Four additional pitchers through the night kept the Rangers quiet and limited them to two runs. Texas had scoring opportunities in the 2nd, 5th, 7th, and 9th and could not capitalize. Their only runs came on two solo homers, one by Marcus Semien and one by Adolis Garcia.
In the finale on Thursday afternoon, the Rangers opted to reset and rest up for the Astros this weekend, figuring their depth was still good enough to tackle Detroit. Starting AL All-Stars Jonah Heim and Corey Seager each got the day off while Jon Gray’s start was bumped to the Houston series in favor of a spot start by Cody Bradford. That decision seemed fortuitous early as Tigers starter Reese Olson left the game after 1 ⅔ innings after a 103-MPH comebacker by Rangers replacement shortstop Josh Smith rocketed off his knee.
The beleaguered Tigers, who had to use position player Jonathan Schoop to pitch the night before, used six additional relievers who pitched no more than 1 ⅔ innings each to hold Texas to just three runs through the first eight innings as they never allowed the Rangers to grab a lead after their starter exited.
After two more runs in the 9th, the final tally of five runs would have been enough for Texas, had reliever John King not allowed four runs in his two innings of work when the game was still in question.
It was an ugly series, and while the wins were high points, the losses were right up there with some of the worst losses that the team has experienced all season. They take that momentum with them into a showdown with the team chasing them in the standings, the Houston Astros.
Texas closed out the exact halfway point of the season with a record of 49-32, on pace for 98 wins, so it’s hard to be down on what they’ve done and where they’re going, even if they’ve struggled at times to beat up on struggling teams.
Do you think the Rangers will see a benefit down the road from resting their players? Share your thoughts with Matt on Twitter @FisherWritesMLB.
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